Acupuncture treatment of a human requires accessing acupoints in the human body with acupuncture needles. An acupuncture needle is an elongated shaft that has a sharp tip on one end. The sharp tip penetrates the human body through skin to access an acupoint or acupoints. Such an acupuncture needle is typically flexible, made of metal and its shaft generally is of a diameter similar to that of a fine sewing needle.
The sharp tip requires protection prior to accessing acupoints. Since the acupuncture needle has to penetrate through the skin to access an acupoint or acupoints under the skin in a human, the acupuncture needle has to remain sterile. Moreover, the slender and flexible structure of the needle requires support for the operator or acupuncturist to accurately point the needle at an acupoint and subsequently to push the needle through the skin of the human. Consequently a conventional design includes a slender guide tube encasing the needle. The guide tube not only protects the sharp tip till the needle is dispensed but also encloses the needle from the tip to part of a handle and thereby maintains its sterility.
In general, most prior conventional needle assemblies include a tab or stopper to secure the acupuncture needle in position inside the guide tube during storage, transport and handling. In such conventional acupuncture needle dispensing systems, the needle is required to stay longitudinal before, during and after the tab is removed, and while the needle is being dispensed. The tab jams the acupuncture needle toward one side of the interior of the guide tube core. Moreover in most conventional systems, while a first hand of an acupuncturist holds the guide tube with an acupuncture needle inside, a second hand is required to remove the tab to liberate the needle to move freely inside the core axially and laterally. The freed needle is then ready to be manipulated to access an acupoint.
A two-hand operation presents difficulty to the operator because the second hand may shift the position of the guide tube held by the first hand. Additionally to access some sideways or down facing acupoints, the guide tube has to be turned sideways or pointed down, which orientation may not be conveniently reached by two hands. Utilizing two hands on the acupuncture needle and guide tube also can distract the acupuncturist from the patient.
In addition, as an important shortcoming, in most conventional systems, the tab becomes separated from the guide tube. Due to its small size, the separated tab easily falls out and ends up on the floor, often in corners and crevices, making it very difficult to remove. Cumulatively, the separated tabs present unsightly debris or contamination in the professional office of a healthcare-provider.
Due to these shortcomings, conventional dispensing systems have been modified. Some modifications have taken the approach of replacing the conventional tab. Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,339 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,584. In both of these modifications, two hands of an operator are required to hold the tube and dispense the needle, and the needle loses the freedom to move laterally inside the guide tube for needle dispensing or insertion. A large force acts on the needle against the tube. Moreover, in the first modification, the elastic stopper that has been designed to replace a tab has to be removed from the tube to free the needle from the tube after insertion so that the tube can be removed. The elastic stopper is separated from the tube and becomes debris or contamination.
In the second modification, while a first hand holds the guide tube in place over an acupoint, a second hand is required to rotate a sleeve of a C-shaped configuration over a side slot to manipulate the handle of a needle for dispensing. It may well be due to these shortcomings, that the aforementioned modifications have not resulted in market adoption.
Thus, there is need for an improved system that allows a one-hand operation to dispense the needle, which system is equipped with a mechanism to hold the needle that allows it freedom to move axially and laterally during needle insertion but does not need to be removed after needle insertion.